Can you please put on your judgy pants and tell me what you think?

But tbh, I still don't get why / how it matters that we may not be interesting or classy enough to use certain names? I mean... What?

Well quite. It effectively means that if you’re posh enough you can call your kids what you like. If not you can’t get above yourself and choose names above your station.

Helena, Sebastian and Dimitri are my favs.

‘Try hard’ in the U.K. means the person is obsessed with class and thinks you are trying to sound posh. Which if you are posh is amusing.

Clarissa no
Gemma not cute
Katharina no
Carlotta no
Severina awful
Dora the explorer?
Dana no
Alma no
Leta no
Helena no
Elena Ellie or Ella are much sweeter

Anton no
Emil no
Sebastian
Emmanuel
Immanuel
Julian
Severin
Boris
Florian
Louis
Erik
Julius
Dimitri
Max
Sorry really not a fan of your list... the girls names are awful & only boys name I like is max.

What about Isadora ?

Eleonora is really pretty too

I feel like I know what trying too hard means but it doesn't seem to make sense in this context.... What do you mean? Thanks!

Sorry, that was attempting to diplomatically say that my first reaction was that they sounded a bit pretentious.

Elena i also like elanor & Julian

Here are my thoughts based on understanding you are not from the U.K. but might want your child to live here one day...

Clarissa - yes
Gemma - yes
Katharina - I like this but people will want to spell it Katarina
Carlotta - yes
Severina - definitely no
Dora - yes
Dana - yes
Alma - yes
Leta - yes
Helena - yes
Elena - yes

Lovely names!

Anton - yes
Emil - yes
Sebastian - not my taste but fine
Emmanuel - yes
Immanuel - prefer the above spelling
Julian - don't like it
Severin - definitely not
Boris - no way
Florian - not my taste but fine
Louis - yes
Erik - yes and I like the k ending
Julius - not my taste but fine, better than Julian
Dimitri - yes
Max - yes and I think any of the longer versions are fine. Maxim, Maxwell, Maximilian. Don't worry about "famous" people - no one will think of that.

Just not Boris (unless you’re Russian).

Ah yeah i see what you mean now, insult to the name rather than insult to you.

I think DH might veto Anna-Karinina too lol. I think we're agreed on a girls name but if it's a boy, we're screwed

@maimainomai I would be less offenses by being called rey hard so not posh, smart, cool enough rather than poncy which is basically slang insult for something being a "bit gay" as in homosexual. A bit effeminate. Not manly enough.

Anyway, i might try Anna-Karenina on DH. I love a good book reference haha

Definitely don't go for full name Maxwell. It's Max Clifford's full name and Kerry Katina named her child after him before Yewtree.

Clarissa - nice but I don't like Clarrie
Gemma - nice but a bit 1970s/80s
Katharina - no
Carlotta - no
Severina - no
Dora- no
Dana - no, Diana is nicer
Alma - ok
Leta- no
Helena - yes
Elena - Helena is nicer

Anton - no
Emil - too similar to Emily
Sebastian- no
Emmanuel- no
Immanuel - no
Julian- no
Severin - no
Boris - ok
Florian - no
Louis - ok
Erik - prefer Eric but ok
Julius - no
Dimitri - no
Max - yes

Lettice is a nice name, I agree. But it sounds a bit flimsy imo you need iceberg

But being called poncy or a ponce is a much stronger insult imo, and not one with nice connotations.

PONCY | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. poncy. UK offensive disapproving. an insulting way of describing something that is not traditionally male, especially in behaviour, appearance, or speech: "I don't want to sound poncy, but I really like going to the ballet," he said.hat's what I meant by less subtle

Surwly it should be Anna-Karenina??? Then you could be try hard and common with your hyphen all at the same time

I'm not saying it's a no go and if you know a couple that's a bit easier.
I only know it with reference to the book and the Lou Reed song .
Kinda cool if you're into whips

Yeah, poncy is a lite less subtle.

I too k the kind of people who condemn names as too try hard are either the ones secretly jealous they didn't do for something more interesting, or the ones who feel very protective of their newly acquired class status and don't want upstarts getting ideas above their station.

At least you didn't have Evie-Mai or Jaiden on your list...

Hi OP I hope you choose the name you love the most regardless of our opinions but if it helps and as you are not native to U.K. here’s my opinions on how your list works in British culture
Clarissa - posh name and pretty
Gemma - a bit old fashioned (in a bad way 😀)
Katharina - ok and you could spell it Katarina which is becoming more common and doesn’t have the awkward th sound
Carlotta - fine
Sevarina - doesn’t really work in an English accent, sounds too much like severe
Dora - ‘the Explorer’ - so probably not a good idea
Dana - I think you want to pronounce it Darna but in U.K. we would probably say Dayna so maybe avoid
Alma - old fashioned and pronunciation will vary

Leta - ok. You could also use Lettuce which is unusual and posh but many people hate (I think it’s pretty)
Helena ok
Elena ok

Anton ok
Emil ok
Sebastian ok
Emmanuel reminds me of dodgy soft porn film Emmanuelle- and probably will to many Brits
Immanuel - as above and looks like a spelling error
Julian ok posh name
Severin doesn’t sound right in an English accent
Boris - has negative connotations with a current British member of parliament
Florian - unusual but ok
Louis - will be very popular as a prince’s name
Erik fine
Julius fine
Dimitri ok
Max you could use Maximilian or Maximus or Maxim

I have an Elena, shes 25. 😁

Ah, I thought you were googling Venus in Furs.
Book written by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch (see Masochism)
About a man called Severin who is enslaved by a woman who treats him with increasing cruelty.